Student Spotlight: Brazilian Hockey Player Loves Canadian Culture!

Culture Living in Toronto

Jonathas Bado, a 29 year old Brazilian hockey player, is one of the most interesting students we have ever been fortunate enough to have at GEOS Toronto. Toronto is famous for lots of things, and not least among them are the Toronto Maple Leafs and the crazy-passionate, ultra-enthusiastic, Go-Leafs-Go!

Hockey fans who follow them! Usually these fans are homegrown but, in this case, Jonathas Bado moved to a whole new continent for his love of the game.

Jonathas moved here just seven months ago with no knowledge of English. When he first arrived in Canada he began language courses at another ESL school but quickly changed to GEOS Toronto because he could get more individual attention and support from our institution thanks to our counselling services and small class sizes. He was anxious to learn English and benefited greatly from the additional one to one attention that our school makes it a priority to provide.

Back in Brazil, Jonathas played for the highest level of hockey, amateur professional. He spent 10 years playing for his home team, the Blades Porto Allegre. Now that he is in Canada he plays hockey every day, in parks and arenas. Jonathas doesn’t seem to have anything back to say about his Canadian experience (and why should he?) 

“I love this city, I love this country, I love everything here.” – Jonathas Bado

He also loves Canadian bacon!

Jonathas has applied to Centennial College with the help of our pathways team and is anxiously awaiting the response. In the meantime, he continues to play hockey, take classes, and participate in GEOS Toronto events. We are happy for his help as a volunteer student ambassador for student fairs and will continue supporting him as he improves his English skills and goes on to higher education. He’s quick on the ice and in the classroom!

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